Angels Cry Too
by Aisling Clemens
Summary: Tough guy devil hunter Dante never imagined that he'd have a sixteen-year-old girl as a partner. But for better of for worse he meets young miss Bethany alias "Gem" Stone. Dante's life changes as the dark remnants of Gem's past come to light.
1. Chapter 1

**Angels Cry Too  
**  
_Chapter One  
_  
When Dante set out on yet another grunt job on a rainy April night he expected to kill off a low level demon and get paid enough to buy a large pizza. He did not expect to meet Bethany Stone.

Dante was a professional demon hunter; his self-owned one-man business was called Devil May Cry. The demon he was sent to kill tonight was just a low level servant to a more powerful demon lord. It was hardly a work out for a seasoned hunter like Dante. This was going to be all too easy and to top it off from what Dante could see of the creature, someone had already shot it a couple of times. He followed the monster down an alley, hoping to corner it. The beast sensed his presence as they traversed further into the dank narrow passage and turned on him with fangs and claws at the ready. The poor stupid beast was riddled with bullets before it knew what had hit it. It was dead before it hit the ground.

"Pizza here I come." Dante smirked walking cockily forward to finish the job.

Thunder rolled overhead and a light rain began to fall.

"_Looks like I finished this up just in time._" Dante thought looking up at the stormy night sky.

He was just about to plug the demon's head full of bullets when several gunshots rang out from farther along down the alleyway. Dante had to move quickly to avoid mass quantities of deadly bullets now heading in his direction.

"Hey Asshole! That demon's head is paying for my rent! I was supposed to bring that thing back alive damn it! I won't get paid for that bloody piece of crap! Back off!"

"What the hell?" Dante glared angrily in the direction of the female voice currently cussing him out. "Who the hell are you?"

A teenaged girl stalked out of the shadows. She had shoulder length blonde hair and the crown of her head and her bangs were dyed purple. She wore a black tank top and camouflage pants with matching combat boots. The barrels of the two guns she toted were still smoking menacingly.

"What's it to you, bastard?" she snapped.

Dante raised his eyebrows in a bemused expression.

"_She's awfully young to be packing heat._" He thought.

The girl shoved her guns into their holsters and glared down at what was left of the now obviously dead demon.

"Screw you! There's no way I can take this thing back! There goes my money. Screw you, you bastard!" she growled stalking off down the alleyway and out of sight.

"Nice meeting you too. Snarky little brat." Dante laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Two

The rain was practically pounding on the roof when Dante made it back to the his office marked with the glowing neon sign reading "Devil May Cry." All thoughts about the strange girl in the alley were forgotten when he opened the lid of a white cardboard box containing a large pizza.

"Finally." Dante moaned, pulling out a piece of pizza and hungrily biting into it.

He sat back in a chair and propped his feet up on the desk in front of him. He ate his pizza contentedly and listened to the rain outside. He was on the last slice of the pizza when he heard soft cautious footsteps in the attic overhead.

"Sounds like we have rats."

Dante raised his gun and fired a few rounds at the ceiling. Several seconds passed and suddenly gunshot fired back at him. When the dust from the return fire had cleared something on the floor caught Dante's eye. The bullets fired from the attic spelled out a cute little message on the floor.

"Screw you bastard." Dante read.

"No frikking way." He groaned glaring up at the hole in the ceiling.

"So, your name is Bethany Stone, huh?" Dante said reading off of the idea card found in his intruder's wallet. It was of course, the girl from the alleyway. Dante had caught her rather quickly due to the fact that she was cornered in the attic.

"Shuttup. My name is Gem. I hate being called Bethany."

"Gem Stone huh? Cute joke." Dante snorted.

"Shuttup!"

"Feisty aren't you?"

Bethany was currently tied to Dante's chair. Her weapons were confiscated and laid out on the desk. She was drenched in rainwater and her face was livid.

"Let's see here… twin hand guns and a big ass sword. That's a lot for a sneaky little punk like you to be carrying around." Dante said examining them.

"Grgh…you stupid jerk! Untie me now!" Gem yelled.

"Temper, temper." Dante snickered.

"You're the one who busted in here. You're trespassing. I think you owe me an apology." He said with relish.

"In your dreams." Gem spat.

Dante laughed."You're going to be tied up for a very long time kid," he grinned evilly.

"Go to hell." Gem hissed.

"I've already been there kid." Dante laughed louder.

"And it's not half bad." He said leaving the room


	3. Chapter 3

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Three

Dante figured that the girl would cave in soon, but she sat in an enraged silence for hours. She had guts. That much was obvious.

"_Well, let's see if she lasts until morning." Dante thought carelessly._

_He kicked off his boots and trudged off to bed. He slept peacefully until around two in the morning when the sound of painful and labored coughing could be heard from the front room._

"_Crap." Dante muttered grumpily._

"_What now?" he blundered out into the front room wearing only his pants._

_Gem was in a bad way. Her face was flushed and her breathing was shallow. As Dante approached she started coughing again. She sounded terrible and her whole body shook with each cough._

"_Damn it." Dante placed a hand on the girl's forehead._

_She was burning up._

"_Damn she's got a fever. How long was she out in the rain?" Dante wondered as Gem's body was wracked with another violent coughing fit._

"_Kid you are way more trouble than you're worth." Dante grumbled._

_He snapped the ropes binding his little captive and set her down carefully on the couch. He left the room only to return with a blanket. He threw it over Gem and reached for the phone._

"_If it wasn't for you kid, I'd never have to do this… Shit!" he growled dialing a number he really hated. _

"_Yeah, Lady? Look… I'm going to need a favor." He said into the receiver, regretting every word. _

"_So, she just appeared out of nowhere huh?" Dante's occasional business partner lady, glanced over at the couch where a local doctor was currently diagnosing Gem._

_She was a pretty woman with short cut brunette hair and a nice figure. She wore a plaid miniskirt and rather revealing white shirt. A gun holster rested at her hip. Dante had called her to bring the doctor because she had money and he did not. He was going to owe her even more money then he already did when all of this was over._

"_You got it. She shot those badass guns of hers off at me and cussed me out over the demon I killed. I guess she was after it for a bounty." Dante shrugged pointing at Gem's guns over on the desk._

"_So what's the diagnosis pops?" he called over his shoulder to the doctor._

"_She has a mild case of pneumonia. You should have kept her out of the rain." The doctor reprimanded him._

"_Yeah, yeah save me the sermon and tell me her treatment." Dante answered back smartly._

"_Bed rest and medication. I'll include the cost for her pills in my visitation fee. Call me again if her condition worsens." The doctor closed his black bag with a snap, handed a pill bottle and bill to Dante, and left._

"_Here." Dante tossed the bill to Lady._

"_Thanks for the help. You can go now."_

_Lady rolled her eyes. She was used to his chronic rudeness and lack luster manners._

"_So what are you going to do with her Dante? Let her stay here?" she asked._

"_I guess. It'd be cruel to turn her out, and I've got a feeling she has nowhere else to go." Dante said._

"_And I've got a really bad feeling that it's my fault." He thought remembering Gem's words back in the alleyway. _

"…_**That demon's head is paying for my rent**__!" _

_Lady nodded._

"_She's so young. She should still be in high school. What's a girl her age doing all on her own fighting demons with heavy duty firearms and a sword that's almost as big as yours?" she wondered._

"_Beats me. But she's been running the streets for a while now if her colorful vocabulary is any indication…. DAMN!" Dante slammed his fist down on the desk._

"_I don't know how to take care of a teenaged girl!" he whined._

_Lady sighed._

"_I guess I can stick around for a little while to help you out. But you owe me for this Dante." She said._

"_Yeah, whatever. I'm going back to bed. You women are all trouble, every last one of you." Dante grumped._


	4. Chapter 4

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Four

Gem woke up late in the afternoon. The sun had just started to set and was casting long shadows across the main room of Devil May Cry.

"Unh." Gem groaned and struggled to sit up.

"Well, well. She's back among the living." An annoying voice made her wince.

"_That voice…I've heard it before…wait…where am I?_" Gem thought groggily.

"You've been out all day kid. Completely dead to the world." The voice snickered.

"Ugh…crap." Gem moaned when reality hit.

"_I'm still at the jerk's place! But wait, when I was still conscious I'd been all tied up. Why am I laying down?"_ she wondered.

"Hello! Anyone home?" Dante rapped his knuckles on the top of Gem's head.

Gem opened her mouth to say something caustic but ended up coughing.

"Dante! Back off, the kid's sick." A female voice exclaimed disapprovingly.

"Here." Someone opened her mouth, forced her to swallow something, and handed her a glass of water.

"The doctor left this medication for you. You'll need to take it twice a day." The female voice instructed.

"W-who are you?" Gem asked weakly.

"Call me Lady. I occasionally work with Dante." Lady introduced herself.

Gem looked up warily at the woman. She was in her twenties but for some strange reason was wearing a school uniform (and in Gem's opinion had far too many buttons on her shirt undone.). She had short bobbed black hair and odd colored eyes; one was red and the other a bluish green. Gem hadn't seen anyone like this woman before…and she'd seen some pretty strange people while living in the streets.

"I'm in even more debt to Lady than I already was thanks to you now. I had to call her over so that she could pay for the frikking doctor." Dante imputed snidely.

"I wouldn't even be here now if you hadn't ruined my hit job." Gem growled her upper lip curled as she glared at Dante.

"Hey! I was just doing my job! I had no idea there was someone else on the hit." Dante huffed.

"Well because of you doing your job I didn't get paid, couldn't afford my rent, and got evicted from my apartment." Gem kicked into guilt trip mode.

"And you also caught pneumonia and got prescribed medication that I'm going to have to pay an arm and a leg for." Dante guilt tripped her right back.

"And do you have any idea what a pain it was to erase your nice little message off or my floor?"

Gem shrugged. "You shot at me first. I was just acting out of defense."

"You broke into my house you punk!" Dante exclaimed.

"I wouldn't have if I'd had a place to go h-ho-ome to!" Gem's voice cracked.

Dante blinked and began to laugh. "Ha ha ha! You sound like a boy going through puberty! That's priceless!" he guffawed.

"Urgh-shut…shut—." Gem was about to launch another barrage of insults but started coughing again.

"That's enough teasing Dante." Lady shot him a warning look.

Gem was silent for a bit after her coughing fit had ceased.

"So why didn't you just throw me out? You could have just turned me into the cops." She asked awkwardly.

Dante shrugged. "Being mean to kids isn't my thing." He said simply.

"Anyway, you work as some sort of bounty hunter, right? Once you've gotten over this could you can stay here as long as you need to, provided that you work to help pay the bills and stuff. And…it'll help if you like pizza…especially without olives." He added.

Gem went silent again. She was unsettled by Dante's sudden charitable behavior. Dante shrugged again.

"Of course if you don't want--." He started to say.

"I make my own pizza and I hate olives." Gem blurted.

"Really? Well then, we might actually get along Gem. Consider this place your new home." Dante said with a smirk.

"_Free pizza. Score!"_ he thought.

"_Get along? I wouldn't count on that. It would be hoping for a miracle."_ Gem thought.

"_These two are going to constantly be at each other's throats. This place won't last two days."_ Lady thought amusedly.


	5. Chapter 5

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Five

Gem's immunity system proved to be exceptionally strong. Within days she was back up on her feet. Dante and Lady both wondered if the bounty hunter child was really planning on staying at Devil May Cry. On one occasion they had been almost convinced that she'd gone and left for good when she'd disappeared one afternoon. But she'd only returned later that night and announced that she had several hit jobs lined up and that she was ready to start working.

"She can't be human." Dante muttered to Lady as they watched Gem make preparations for her next job.

"You're one to talk." Lady retorted.

"Hey Dante!" Gem called from across the room.

"Yeah, what?" Dante asked apprehensively.

"You're coming with me." Gem declared.

"Like hell." Came the reply.

"Why not? You're up to your eyeballs in debt. If you help me with this my employer will pay you my usual hit fee." Gem argued.

"Dante! You're going! This way you might be able to pay off some part of the shit-load of money you owe me!" Lady said in a commanding tone.

"HELL NO!"

"Let's put it up to a bet then." Gem suggested.

"If it'll get you out of my hair, then fine." Dante said irritably.

"Okay, let's play pool. If I get every ball in with one shot, then you're coming with me."

Dante laughed. "That's not going to happen in a million years! When you lose kid, you'll be buying me a strawberry sundae."

"We have a bet!" Gem grabbed a cue and strolled over to the pool table.

"Go get your car keys." She grinned aiming for the cue ball and shooting.

"Don't be such a downer Dante. I'll make you a pizza when we get back."

"Shut the hell up you bratty little pool shark." Dante snapped.

"Geez. Sore loser, much?" Gem laughed.

"Urgh. I've only been stuck with you for three days and you're already driving me crazy! I was right when I said you'd be nothing but trouble." Dante fumed.

The two bickering hunters were driving down toward the local docks. Dante was still partially in shock from losing a bet to a teenaged girl.

"So what exactly are we going after anyway?" he asked.

"A demon's been killing off the local fisherman. I got called in to take it down. Thing is, this demon's escaped from several colleagues of mine. So chances are it's really strong or there's more than one demon." Gem explained.

"Humph. So that's where I come in. You wanted backup." Dante said.

Gem nodded. "Bingo."

The docks were almost detail for detail straight out of a cheesy old murder movie: fog, bad smells, stray cats and all. Gem had laid out her mission strategy before leaving the car. They'd split up in order to search the area. Starting their patrol at opposite ends of the long dock they would move inward and end up meeting in the middle. As soon as they had stepped out of the car Gem had gone into business mode. She pulled her handguns out and walked with them held at the ready.

"Meet you in the middle." She whispered to Dante's retreating figure. She walked along through the fog until she got back down to the end of the dock. Finding no trace of a demon, Gem turned back to head toward their meeting point. It was late and all other people had long since gone from the wharf. Gem walked along as silent as the fog itself. That was until she was hit by an unexpected coughing fit. (After all she was almost recovered from her sickness…but the keyword there was almost.)

"Hey! Whose there? These docks are closed!" an angry looking old fisherman blocked her path.

"_Dammit._" Gem thought gripping her guns a little tighter.

"So why are you down here you crusty old fart?" she answered back tartly.

"That's none of your business you smart-mouthed little punk!" the man yelled angrily.

It was then that the fog began to clear and Gem saw several men now standing in a circle around her.

"Heh." She raised her handguns to shoulder level. "So you went after me 'cuz I looked less deadly than the big guy in read huh? Big mistake."

"Get her!" the shady men surrounding her shifted into their true forms. The demons that now appeared before her gnashed their yellowed teeth and charged. Gem smirked and fingered her trigger.

"Bring it." She muttered.


	6. Chapter 6

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Six

Dante didn't even blink when he heard gunshots ring out from Gem's side of the docks. Smooth as anything he broke into a run, following the noise. As Dante arrived at the center of the conflict he found Gem currently shooting up two unfortunate demons until they were riddled with holes. Several more demons were already maimed and lifeless on the ground around her.

"Nice of you to show up!" Gem called jumping sideways and spraying the air with bullets.

"Hm, maybe I should just sit here and watch you work. You seem to have things covered pretty well." Dante said jumping in and standing back to back with her.

"Oh goodness no! I can't have all the fun here!" Gem said with mock cheer, still shooting.

"_She's a good shot_." Dante thought.

It was obvious that Gem had experience, and a lot of it. There was no waste to her movements and her accuracy was spot on.

"You aren't getting tired are you?" Dante asked, joining in with his guns, Ebony and Ivory blazing away.

"Who, me? I can go at it all night long." Gem laughed.

"That's a real dirty sense of humor you've got there little lady." Dante snorted.

"Show me what you got." He challenged.

Gem put her firearms at rest and drew her sword. It was huge, nearly as big as Dante's sword, Rebellion. It wasn't natural for a girl of Gem's size to be able to carry a sword that big. Its hilt was black and silver, and the long curving blade broadened at the edge. It was like an oversized and extremely deadly cutlass,

"Let's party," Gem smirked.

She moved so fast that she was almost a blur and it soon became apparent that she was as skilled with her sword as she was with her guns. In the blink of an eye she had cut down the three closest devils. Their blood sprayed in sparkling arcs through the air behind her. She back flipped over another monster and shot it in the head while at the same time decapitating a demon lunging at her from behind.

"Not bad at all." Dante commented slightly impressed with her handiwork. She wasn't half bad for a little punk.

"But can you cut down five in one?" he speared two demons through with Rebellion while gunning down an additional three.

"Care to demonstrate?" Gem called back with her pixie-like grin.

"As you wish." With mock reverence, Dante bowed and sprang forward slicing through five consecutive demons with apparently no effort at all.

"Impressive!" Gem gave him a cheery thumb's up.

"But the last one's all mine."

"Eh?" Dante glanced around. There were no living demons in sight all though there were plenty of dead ones.

"Yeah, sorry babe, but I think we got all of them." He said, scratching the back of his neck."

"Not quite." Gem raised her gun and pointed it directly at him.

"What the he—." Dante reached for his own gun.

Gem smirked and pulled the trigger, easily killing the demon lurking behind a very pissed of Dante.

"Now, that should be all of them." She smiled sweetly before turning and heading back toward the car.


	7. Chapter 7

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Seven

"You psycho child! You could have at least warned me before firing off! Geez!" Dante complained loudly as he drove Gem to her employer's headquarters. He was still rather sore about the shock he'd received back at the wharf.

"Chillax Dante. It's not like I actually shot you, and besides, the job's over and done with. No use holding a grudge." Gem shrugged.

"Easy for you to say." Dante growled.

"Oh quit your whining already! Pull over here." Gem pointed at a rich looking business office.

"Here? You're sure this is the place? It looks a little too nice to be a hit man agency." Dante sounded skeptical.

"I'm sure." Gem replied.

Dante pulled the car over and killed the engine. Gem pulled up the hood of her jacked and put on a pair of sunglasses. Sliding coolly out of her seat she glanced back at Dante.

"Follow me." She muttered.

They walked into the building together. On the inside it looked like an average upscale business office.

"We're going upstairs." Gem said to Dante in an undertone.

She led him across the room and up a back stairway. An oak and gold plated door awaited them at the top. Gem knocked on the door five times in quick succession. A small panel in the door slid back to reveal a wary pair of bloodshot eyes staring back at them. Gem pushed down her sunglasses and made eye contact with the guard. The man closed the sliding panel and with a click the door opened.

"Ah, six darling! Do come in!" a man with and upper-class accent called.

He was lounging behind and expensive looking desk in a lavishly furnished office.

"Six?" Dante looked inquiringly at Gem.

"Identity protection. Instead of using our names we go by rank number here. I'm six." Gem whispered.

"Snyder, you owe me big money." She drawled striding forward.

"Hm? What's this? Demanding money without even showing me proper proof? You need to remember your manners six darling." Snyder purred.

He looked like a very wealthy young business entrepreneur. His rich clothing and pampered attitude only served to add on to this image. Gem revealed a bloody jawbone that she'd cut out of one of the defeated demons.

"Good…Good! So you took care of the demon!" Snyder smiled.

"Try demons as in plural. You sent me into a goddamned nest of the Snyder." Gem growled.

"I knew that you could handle it Angel! I never would have sent you on a mission you couldn't finish! I'd never let my favorite little agent get hurt." Snyder cooed.

"_This guy…. is __sick_." Dante thought, the muscle under his right eye twitching.

"Cut the sweet talk and show me the money Snyder, unless you like the taste of hot lead." Gem tapped her handguns.

"Such unpleasantness!" Snyder sighed dramatically.

"Very well then name your price six dear." He said catching sight of Gem's darkening scowl.

"Double my usual fee and the same amount for my accomplice." Gem pointed at Dante.

"And don't you dare bitch at me about the amount. I know you have it." She added.

"Accomplice you say? Just who is this exactly six darling?" Snyder looked at Dante with an appraising eye, his face lighting up.

"This is Dante." Gem said simply.

"Well Dante, if my little angel is working with you, you must be very strong indeed.

"What do you say? Need a job?" Snyder asked.

"_Just like a real business man_." Dante thought.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass." He replied.

"Quit stalling and cough up the cash Snyder." Gem cut in.

"Very well." Snyder handed over an expensive leather brief case.

"That should be the sufficient amount."

Gem opened up the case and briefly counted the bills and checked for counterfeits. She appeared to be satisfied with what she saw and shut the case with a shadow of a smirk playing on her lips.

" We're leaving now Dante." She said imperiously as she tossed the case to Dante and walked back across the office.

"I'll call you with new commissions soon darling." Snyder called in farewell.

Gem froze with her hand on the doorknob.

"You don't call me Snyder. I call you."

"Congrats Dante, we just made four thousand dollars." She grinned as she walked back downstairs with Dante in tow.

"This girl…" Dante shook his head in disbelief.

"Whoa…wait just a second! You make a thousand dollars a hit?" Dante exclaimed, doing the math.

"Yep." Gem answered smugly. "At the very least."

"_That's a lot of pizzas_." Dante thought.

"Well that settles it. We're going out to eat!" he said excitedly.

Gem sighed. "Let me guess, we're getting pizza?"

"And she's psychic too! Amazing!" Dante laughed.


	8. Chapter 8

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Eight

Under normal circumstances Gem would have insisted on going back to Devil May Cry and making her own food. But at the moment she was ticked off, tired, and extremely hungry. Gem really didn't care what happened as long as she got some food. She pulled up a seat next to Dante and the local diner he'd driven them too.

"One large pizza with all the meat you can put on it, and whatever the heck he wants." She said to the bar tender nodding her head in Dante's general direction.

"One large pizza with the works, no olives." Dante ordered.

"You really gonna be able to eat a large pizza to yourself?" Dante asked looking skeptically at Gem.

"Mmh." Was Gem's reply.

She was occupied with watching the cook's every move while he made her food.

"You checking out the pizza guy?" Dante teased.

"No. I'm making sure he doesn't put anything funny in it. I have to do this whenever I don't make my own food. It's part of my code of conduct." Gem answered.

"That's gotta be a real pain." Dante said.

He glanced at Gem out of the corner of his eyes. She looked so tired, but she still stared raptly at the pizza guy. She had a hardened look in her eye that was only seen in assassins several decades her senior.

"Yeah it is…oh screw this!" Gem turned her head away from the kitchen.

"I'm immune to most poisons anyways." She reasoned.

Dante's jaw dropped. "How the heck can you--."

"I was given small amounts of all kinds of poisons when I was growing up. My body adapted and developed immunities to them. It's a basic part of my family's training regime." Gem explained already anticipating Dante's question.

"You've had a pretty rough upbringing." Dante commented dryly.

Gem tilted her head slightly to the right left and grinned.

"Why do you think I'm so twisted?" she joked.

Or at least Dante thought she was joking.

"Here's your food." The cook dropped their pizzas in front of them.

Gem tossed a couple of bills at him and reached for her dinner. She tore off two pieces of pizza and made a sort of sandwich with them, cheese sides facing each other and crust facing out. She tucked in hungrily and took out half of the improvised sandwich in one bite.

"Hey slow down there. You'll make yourself sick." Dante cautioned.

"Nah ah won'." Gem mumbled through a very full mouth. She swallowed hard.

" I've learned to eat fast to survive life on the streets. You have to be quick out there or else someone will snitch your food right out from under your nose." She said seriously.

"Well no one's gonna try and jack your pizza here. At least slow down enough to actually taste what you're eating." Dante said all the while making good time with his own pizza.

"Whatever." Gem rolled her eyes but for once did what she was told.

"So anyway. You mentioned your family. What happened to them? You run away from home or something?" Dante asked.

Gem froze with a piece of pizza in her hand. A pained look came over her face.

"No…I didn't run away. My family…they…they were killed by demons. All of them including my twin brother who would still be alive if he hadn't stepped in and saved my life, he should still be alive instead of me. But I'm not the sob story type. I really don't want to talk about it." Gem said in a cold monotonous voice.

Dante simply nodded and went back to eating his food. He didn't see any point in continuing this discussion. The rest of the time passed by in an awkward silence.

Gem didn't say a word the whole way home, not even a whisper when they reached Devil May Cry. Instead she kicked off her shoes, hung up her weapons, and curled up under a blanket on the couch, clearly intent on going to sleep. It was pretty obvious; Dante thought that she was way more agitated than she wanted to let on. That question about her family had really upset her. She probably wanted to talk about it but was too afraid to open up to anyone. Dante tried to appear like he didn't notice. He'd listen to her if she decided to tell him more. But he definitely wasn't going to try to force the story out of her. Instead he hung up his long red coat on a hook by Gem's weapons and went upstairs to his room.


	9. Chapter 9

Angels Cry Too

Chapter Nine

Gem woke up early the next morning and left before Dante was even awake. She'd grabbed a wad of cash out of the briefcase that held her pay and was heading out to buy a few things that she'd been in need of for awhile. The first things on her list were clothes. Gem bought three new outfits at a local boutique. She decided to wear her favorite of the three out of the store. The ensemble included a short skirt with black leggings underneath, a black tank top, a dark purple jacket, and black boots. The outfit looked good on her and the colors matched her hair, which was blonde but died purple with red tips at the crown and bangs. She hid her hazel eyes behind a new pair of sunglasses as she left to finish the rest of her errands.

"_Now then, where to get pizza ingredients._" She thought.

Dante's dreams were permeated by his favorite smell in the world; fresh, hot out of the oven pizza.

"C'mon lazy ass! You can't spend the whole day sleeping!" Gem called from the bedroom doorway tossing a boot at his head.

"Get out of my room you damn brat!" Dante threw the boot back at her.

Gem neatly dodged the projectile footwear.

"Fine then! I'll eat the whole pizza all by myself and I won't save any for you!" she sing-songed dancing off down the hall.

Dante was instantly up and getting dressed. He knew full well that Gem could follow through with that threat.

"You know what? If you couldn't make such a damn good pizza I would have thrown your butt out by now. Damn punk! Sleep is important! You're making me lose sleep!" Dante ranted.

The two devil hunters were seated across from each other at Dante's desk, eating a pizza courtesy of Gem. Dante however was not in the greatest of moods. He wasn't accustomed to being up early. Gem was trying to change his habit of sleeping in and it wasn't going too well.

"Just shut up and eat. You sound like a pissy old fart. And you're welcome for the pizza that I worked so hard to make." Gem retorted.

"Yeah, whatever…thanks." Dante grumbled.

"So where's Lady anyway? Gem asked.

"She wasn't here when we got back yesterday."

"Like I know or care." Dante said with a scowl.

"She's probably off on a job. She's an adult. I don't need to worry about her. I'm stuck keeping track of you girly, and that's more than enough."

"Date I'm heading out!" Gem announced.

After they'd finished breakfast there hadn't been much to do and Gem was getting bored. She was pulling on her purple jacket and getting ready to head out the door. She seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, as if she was up to something.

"Where are you going?" Dante asked from behind the magazine he was reading.

"Just out…"

"What are you up to?"

"Nooo-thiiiing."

"Gem!" Dante leapt across the room and caught Gem by her sleeve.

"Turn out your pockets." He ordered.

"Shit, fine." Gem tossed a set of keys at him.

Dante looked at the keys in his hand with a bemused expression.

"Hey, these are the motorcycle keys! You can't ride on that alone. You're still to young babe." He snickered at the kid's nerve.

"Yeah, yeah." Gem pouted.

Dante looked at her, amused.

"Alrighty then. Go ahead and grab a helmet. We're going on a little joy ride. I'm getting a bit bored myself."

"Hey! How come I have to wear a helmet if you're not?" Gem yelled over the sound of the wind rushing by.

She and Dante were currently racing down the freeway riding double on Dante's motorcycle. Dante was enjoying the adrenaline rush of the breeze blowing through his hear while Gem was rather unhappily stuck wearing a helmet.

"Because I'm a grown-up. You on the other hand are a kid and kids have to follow rules." Dante yelled back revving the engine.

Gem snorted and tightened her hold around Dante's waist.

"Y'know most adults have to follow rules too Dante!" she shouted.

"What? Sorry! Can't hear you!" Dante fired the engine to full throttle.

They shot off down the freeway at break neck speed.

"Whoa! Too fast! Too fast! Slow down you looney! DAAAAAANTEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Gem screamed at the top of her lungs.

Dante only laughed as they sped along. Neither of them noticed the red jumpsuit clad motorcycle rider that they'd blasted past on their little joy ride. Lady looked at them through her helmet's visor in disbelief.

"_Absolutely insane, the both of them._" She thought shaking her head.


End file.
